A KNF grunt hit the deck hard, a lump growing on the back of his head. Pistol-whipped by Nails, not a pleasant experience considering his size. Nickels dispatched the soldier on the other side of the bay, and they both jumped into a pair of Chimeras. It was almost too easy. They lifted off and sent the code to the doors, but since they were not scheduled for launch they had to do it the old fashioned: guns blazed and doors opened, nuke mines launched and on time-delay detonated the other fighters, and the duo made their escape amidst several fighters scrambling to intercept.
"Way too easy." Nails said concerned. "Pull into this cloud. Drop all to only lifesupport on minimal levels and use your oxygen mask. Search every square inch of your ship for anything that looks out of place. I think they're tracking us."
"What you think they knew-"
"We're freelancers Jess, think about it. Every government has a file on us. They know our typical motives, how we opperate. We have to change that. We have to lay low and strike from the shadows." Nails said walking along the back portion of his Chimera. And nodding when he saw the slow blinking light attached to his electrical system. "We have to be smart." he said removing the bug and disposing of it in the jetison lock. "We have to be careful." he said pressing the airlock release and jettisoning the tracking bug to space.
"We have to be clever." Nickels said jetisoning the same bug.
"We have to be Reynolds" they both said. Nails looked out the cockpit at his brother and nodded.
The course from Tau 29 to Omicron Gamma was disputed. There were two routes, each very different, each with their own hazards. Instead of arguing it over comms, the duo landed on Freeport 6 and took it to the bar, after ordering the IFFs and IDs on their ships changed to "Freelancer" (in a shady business transaction, of course). It was a booth shoved away in the corner of the bar, in the shadows. They sat facing each other, drinks untouched in front of them. Nails began.
"We could swing up through Omicron Alpha and down through Eta, Theta, and into Gamma. It's short..."
"Yeah, and also passes one of the most hotly contested systems in Sirius, Omicron Eta. Freakin' Corsairs and Outcasts are blowing each other to bits in there!"
"Yeah? The other way is to go back through Bretonia, and swing low through the Omegas. Not only do we pass the Bretonia/Kusari front again, we get to pass through the Hessians and Corsairs blowing each other up, too. And you forget, despite our Freelancer identification, we're still in stolen Kusari ships."
"I still don't think going through Outcast turf is the brightest idea, bro..."
"Me too," Josh sighed, taking a pull from his drink, then setting it back down with a grimace. "But it's the only viable option right now."
"What about the ships?" Nickels asked as he dowed his drink in one gulp and winced.
"What about em?" Nails asked quizically.
"Well, they're Kusari ships. If we keep them for too long and we venture into Eta and on down...it's going to raise some questions from both sides...and I don't think the Corsairs will ask, I think they'll just shoot."
"What about your contact that stays in the borderworlds? Think he could lend us a hand?"
"I don't know, I havn't heard from him in a few months. I think he may have been captured or killed. We may have to be flying through those systems blind, Josh."
Nails sighed and covered his hand with his face. Never in his life would he have guessed he would be framed for murder, and murder of a Rheinland government offical no less. Things were exclating out of control, and there wasn't any other way to get out of this mess with out getting to their Uncle. He could help them to lay low for a while, if not on Crete than at least on Cadiz or on a number of other stations scattered from here to the Taus. The holomonitor came on automatically, normally reserved for times of breaking news. On the screen the news reporter standing outside of Liberty came up on the screen.
"Today, a band of criminals attacked Liberty with brutal force. The LSF, LPI, and LN were able to hold off the intruders and capture several of the members including one, Jacob "Uncle" Munroe, wanted for extortion and acts against house systems. It is not clear of his affiliation, but the police are saying he is wanted mainly for arms smuggling. Other pirates captured include-"
Nails punched the table and cracked the outer portion.
"Alright Josh calm down." Nickels said putting his hands out and looking into his brothers eyes who avoided his stare.
"Now what Jess? We're screwed now."
"No we're not. Standby, I'm going to make a call."
Nickels activated his neural interface and dialed a number.
"Hey...yeah sorry...listen, me and my brother need a place to lay low...I figured I would call you...it's a total last resort I promise you...yeah...alright...tell him I said hello if he's around...Oh, sorry to hear that...yeah I know it's been a while...alright, we'll be there in a day or so...thanks again..."
Nickels closed communications and looked at his brother.
"Change of plans Josh. My friend said we can lay low at her place."
Tau 29 was just one jump from Kusari, but it took a special knowledge to get to Kyoto. Chugoku, the secret Blood Dragon system, was a secret fortress at the northernmost point of Kusari. There's a reason DSE has yet to finish the jump gate from Hokkaido to Chugoku - the Blood Dragons are a tenacious lot. Convoys of parts hijacked or destroyed, the station itself sabotaged, not even positioning of the Matsumoto near the gate construction site stopped the attacks.
Of course they went to great lengths to keep their secret base - indeed, secret system - hidden from public eye. Nickels was a rather privileged man, so he knew the way. Tau 29 to Kyushu, then the secret jump hole in the north of the system to Hokkaido, and fly still farther north in Hokkaido to the Chugoku hole. Kyoto is a huge asteroid in the exact center of the system. Their Chimeras were eyed with some suspicion, but once they explained who they were and who's authority they were under, the Freelancers were let through.
Docking request sent and accepted, they set down on Kyoto.
"Now you have ta keep your lid on Nails." Nickels said out of the side of his mouth as they walked. "I know how you are with women."
Nails looked at his brother and proceeded to smack him in the back of the head. "Like you've ever been with a woman." he said with ephasis on the "you've".
"Look all I'm saying is-"
"All you're saying is what?" an asian woman said walking up to Nickels. She smiled. "Good to see you Jess...this must be Josh 'Nails' Reynolds."
Nails stared, tried to spit out a sentence, stopped, thought for a second, and just smiled.
"Is he-"
"-stupid? Yes. Let me explain what happened, and how we got here."
Several hours later, Nickels finished his story. Shan sat wide eyed at the story he had just explained and sat for a moment, thinking to herself.
"The corperate system gets more and more shady everyday."
"And there's no signs of it changing." Nails finished taking a drink. "Nickels said you could get us a place to lay low for a while, that true?"
"Depends, if these weird patrols quit coming thorugh here, I can probably get you guys into 63 for a bit, but that's pushing it."
"Weird patrols?" Nickels asked.
"Yeah, Kusari usually never comes in here unless they're chasing us from Hokkaido, but recently, they havn't even been chasing US. They've been looking for someone, or something."
Nickels looked at his brother and sighed. "They're really wanting to find us aren't they?" Nickels asked his brother.
"Looks like it, I say we lay low here for a few days, get our s*** together and then buy a couple of different fighters and head into Outcast territory."
"Outcasts...never thought I'd go there for protection."
"Yeah me neither, but we don't really have much more of a chance. It's either Crete or Malta. Long as we buy some Cardi at Malta, we'll probably be allowed to stay." Nickels nodded and stared at his drink for a few minutes in silence.
"Sounds good...I'm going to head up to my room for oa bit, get some shut eye, I'll contact you when I'm up and we can start making plans to get out of here...I'm kinda tired of this running ****, hope we figure something out soon."
"Yeah, me too." Nails said as Nickels walked away and out of the bar.
"So Nails-" Shan started.
"-just call me Josh. Sometimes that nickname gets old."
"Ok, Josh then, have you ever heard of something called Project Tundra?" Nails stopped mid drink and stared at Shan.
"No, I havn't." he said and took a drink.
"I think you do...because your father was on that project before he dissappeared, and you know exactly what he was researching for Liberty...that's why they killed him, and that's why they're after you and your brother..." she paused and gave him a look. "You havn't told him have you?"
"It's better in the end, if they capture me, it's over. They know he had nothing to do with it, and I prefer it stay that way. I only made the mistake of joining my father on the project just before he was captured...I'm lucky I've lasted this long with out the Governments discovering my involvement in the failed project."
"What was it about?" Shan asked folding her hands in on themselves. Nails took a long hard look at Shan and narrowed his eyes.
"You don't want to know."
"On the contrary, I do." she said locking in a stare with Nails. "I've seen some crazy **** in my time, that's another story all together though, but what I want to know is what Liberty was up to, and why they murdered your father and are after you to do the same thing. It has to be something big else they wouldn't waste their resources on anything this big."
"Project Tundra, which is now Project Frostblight, was an attempt to discover the truth about the alien artifacts discovered on Manhattan when we first arrived in the New York system 800 years ago. That was what it's intention was, until they discovered similar artifacts on Stutgartt a few years ago. The standard protocol was of course brought into play, but somehow it was leaked to my father. Now my father was a brilliant man, both in science and research. Instead of shutting him up, Rheinland decided to bring him in on the project. My father was a Liberty National just like me and Jess are, so naturally, Liberty didn't like that. I was only 19 at the time, and my father wanted me to see the project, Rhienland agreed and brought me in as well to research what they had found. Two weeks later my father didn't show up for one of the work days, and got the officals worried. I was detained for questioning and released a few days later when no evidence of my father had turned up. Rhienland had said that with out a doubt all information and records of me being on the project were wiped clean and the project renamed to what it is now. Apparently the Rhienland government has a rat in the highest tier of their system, and ratted my name out to them. That's when me and my brother took the job in Rhienland. When that Liberty offical died, I knew **** was about to hit the fan...I didn't say anything though, assuming that they knew my brother wasn't in on the project and would let him go when they caught me."
"So why not just tell Nic-I mean Jess what's going on?"
"My brother is the only family I have left, our mother is gone, ran off, and my father is presumibly dead in a shallow grave somewhere. If I told him I was responsible for our fathers death, he would never look at me again. The best bet is for me to just go along with this and see where it takes me. If it achieves me freedom, then so be it."
Nails scooted the chair out from the table and looked at Shan.
"And if you tell my brother this, I'll f***in' kill you. Is that clear?"
Shan smiled and nodded.
"I promise." Nails walked to the door and Shan called out. "Be careful Josh Reynolds, you never know who is your friend these days...
Some time later, the buzzer on Nickels' room went off. It was late, and the lights were out, so he called out for the unknown visitor to wait a minute. Shrugging into his pants, he hopped over to the door and light switch. Activating the lights, he opened the door to be faced with Shan. Unusually big eyes were looking at him.
"Can I--" she began. Before she could finish, he responded the affirmative and moved out of the way to let her in. As the door closed, she began rather calmly, and curtly.
"We haven't heard from you for awhile."
"Things got... hectic. Besides, there wasn't much left to report."
She walked over to him, and traced a line around his left bicep. There was a tattoo there, wrapped around his arm. A dragon, and by the level of skill apparent in it, the artist who created it must be very proud. In Kusari, unlike Liberty, tattoos are considered art.
"Watch out for yourself. You two are in trouble." She brushed his lips with a kiss and left. Shaking his head, he got back to bed and, hopefully, some sleep. It was a long way coming.
"Two dragons, prepped and ready like you asked." said the mechanic. Nails smiled and handed him his credits that he rightfully diserved.
"Thanks, they look superb." Nails said with a satisfied smile. Jess was still in bed, Nails made a mental note to make sure that a**hole remembered to set his alarm from now on, but all the while, he didn't mind it, they both diserved a bit of rest here and there, espically after the past week.
Nails climbed into the back of his old ship to take some of the belongings out and came across a case.
"Codename Abaddon."
Nails sighed and took out the case first, shoving it in the very back of the new ship. Just as he did so, and was climbing back out, Jess came out of no where.
"AH!" he screamed.
"Oh sh-*thud*" Nails slammed his head into the top hull of the ship and fell down on the ground, which resulting in Jess falling to his hands and knees laughing, and got a reprisal kick to the shin from Nails once he stood up.
"A**hole." Nails said and went back to moving cargo. "Get your **** out of your ship and lets get moving, we've got a long day ahead of us, we gotta cut through Outcast occupied space again and get into Alpha before it gets too late."
Nails finished packing up his new ship and stopped again, staring at the case.
"Only if things get so drastic that you have no other alternative. No one can know about this Joshua. If anyone finds out what's in this case-"
"Dad, relax, I know, I'll keep it safe, I'll take it out of Rheinland tomorrow night if everything goes according to plan. What are you so spooked about? Our research is coming along famously."
"That's not what I'm worried about son, I'm worried about-"
"Mr. Reynolds?" the crewmaster said making Nails jump.
"Yes?"
"Here's your reciept, have a nice day." the crewmaster smiled and walked away quickly.
Nails looked at the reciept for a second then up and around Kyoto.
"Wish it was a nice day...too bad it's going to be a no good very bad one." he said and climbed into the cockpit.
A few hours behind the brothers, they both flew in silence. Nails kept coming back to the same thing. Shan had been right in the assessment that no one was my friend in this world, the only person he could trust on was himself. It was a lonely life and Nails knew he was probably destined to be this way for a long time, even after his father had died. He knew, even now, that the Liberty dogs were scouring the cosmos for the two, but they didn't know where they were going.
"Contact. Bering zero-two-six mark five, Liberty destroyer. It's on an intercept course straight at us."
"Evasive manuvers."
"Josh Reynolds and Jessie Reynolds, stand down your engines and prepare to be detained."
"Not on my life!" Josh yelled and accerlated hard. "Jess, how far are we from that jumphole!"
"30K at least, we'll make it to the hole but it's not phase aligned, we may not come out where we intend to!"
"F*** it, do it anyway!"
The two came up on the hole, eyes wide. They jumped just as the hole destabalized, and were flung into the abyss.
Static played across Nickels' speakers, and it also wreaked havoc with the scanners. Shaking his head, he peered out of the canopy window with what could best be described as trepidation. Dreary would be the word. Green. He was floating inside a green nebula, small asteroids scattered about, the radiation alarm toning a mild warning.
Then the wreck of a fighter drifted past his cockpit, and he nearly jumped out of the ship.
It took Jess a moment to realize he was seeing an old wreck, apparently a Corsair Titan. Looking around, he noticed several others like it. Must be that odd graveyard they're so protective of.
Omicron Gamma. Not the best place to be in a Dragon fighter, especially...
Abruptly, he realized that the static was gone. A sarcastic comment from Nails about his head feeling like the last time they had played cards was noticeably absent.
"Josh?"
No response. The jump hole must've spit them out in different locations... only thing for it was to head to where they were going originally. Malta. Nails had to have made it there, and he'd be thinking much the same thing.
I hope...
He powered his engines and set a course for Omicron Theta, and steeled himself for the run through Eta, the front lines of the Corsair/Outcast conflict.